Peucaea ruficauda
Silhouette: L. Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The stripe-headed sparrow (Peucaea ruficauda) is a species of bird in the family Passerellidae, the New World sparrows. It is found from Mexico to Costa Rica. The stripe-headed sparrow was formally described in 1853 with the binomial Chondestes ruficauda. It was later reassigned to genus Aimophila. Genus Peucaea had earlier been merged into Aimophila; in 2010 taxonomic systems began restoring Peucaea to generic status and moved the stripe-headed sparrow and several other species from Aimophila to it.
The stripe-headed sparrow's further taxonomic history is unsettled. The International Ornithologists' Union, AviList, and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World assign it these four subspecies: Within the species it calls P. r. acuminata the "stripe-headed sparrow (northern)" and groups the other four subspecies as the "strip-headed sparrow (southern)".
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| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rincón de la Vieja National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Las Baulas Marine National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 3 | Palo Verde National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 4 | Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 5 | Santa Rosa National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 6 | Carara National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 7 | Ostional Wildlife Refuge | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 8 | Masaya Volcano National Park | 🇳🇮 Nicaragua | |
| 9 | Tenorio Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 10 | Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tegucigalpa | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 2 | Guadalajara | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 3 | Managua | 🇳🇮 Nicaragua | |
| 4 | Mexico City | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 5 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 6 | San Salvador | 🇸🇻 El Salvador |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Stripe-headed Sparrow sighting in Carara National Park on a given day, based on 726 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 182nd most-seen of the 414 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Stripe-headed Sparrow in Carara National Park on a given day, against about 10% in July to May, the lowest months. That is one of Carara National Park's wettest months, with about 580 mm of rain against 35 mm in February.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Stripe-headed Sparrow sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
6th of 10
Of the 10 parks where we can rate Stripe-headed Sparrow sightings, Carara National Park ranks 6th at about 10%. The best odds are in Rincón de la Vieja National Park (Costa Rica, about 30%), Las Baulas Marine National Park (Costa Rica, about 20%) and Palo Verde National Park (Costa Rica, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Stripe-headed Sparrow is recorded against all the birds logged in Carara National Park (726 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
